UPDATE 2-Venezuela says will not abandon dlr in oil sales

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(Adds minister quotes)

CARACAS, April 30 (Reuters) - Venezuela will not abandon the dollar as a currency for oil sales, Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said on Wednesday, despite the OPEC member’s trend toward asking for payments in euros for certain contracts.

Asked if Venezuela would stop relying on the greenback, Ramirez said “We are not going to that and we are not currently doing that.

“We have been doing some transactions in euros, we are trying that out ... it is not significant enough to say there has been a qualitative change,” he said.

Ramirez also said the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries had not agreed to an extraordinary meeting before its next scheduled gathering in September.

Member state Libya said on Wednesday OPEC was ready to call an extraordinary meeting but was not planning to do so.

“There is not a production problem, there is plenty of production,” he said.

Ramirez reiterated the OPEC view that there was no shortage of oil supplies on the market despite record prices, but said expensive oil would become customary.

“We have to be prepared for oil prices that are permanently above $90 per barrel,” he said. (Reporting by Brian Ellsworth; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Saul Hudson and Christian Wiessner)